Table of contents for April 2019 in Computer Arts

BEREN NEALE EDITOR Beren has been having loads of fun working with Mark and Zach Leiberman for this year’s new Brand Impact Awards look (see page 47). It’s been mesmerising and computer-crashing. MARK WYNNE ART EDITOR Like every right-thinking Guardian reader with a love of culture, our art editor nodded in agreement at the disparaging reviews of the new Jeff Koons exhibition whilst secretly cooing “Oooh, shiny balloon rabbit!” CLIFF HOPE OPERATIONS EDITOR Cliff also works on our sister creative title ImagineFX, so he’ll be right at home poring over the work of talented designers as he is with artists who paint cyborg dragons. Just as long as he doesn’t get the two mixed up……

“I’m a motion designer and 3D artist from east London. My background’s in film and VFX, but found that the design side of creating was more for me. I bounce from clients to agencies, freelancing as I’ve done for over five years now, straight out of university. “My inspiration comes from anything and anywhere, but the most important thing is colour. Most design nowadays can be dark and simple, but injecting colour into my work makes it a lot more fun and welcoming. I like to push the boundaries of my 3D work so you can look at it and think, ‘That could be real.’ But it’s also a bit surreal, enabling me to create some whacky compositions using simple shapes. “I'm working on a free freelancer guide for young…

MARIANNE WAITE Campaign Director, The Valuable 500 and Inclusive Design Consultant, Omnicom www.thinkdesignable.com Disability has never had it so good. Kind of. In the UK at least, the 2012 Paralympics was truly a watershed moment. It encouraged people to consider disabilities in ways they had never before. Disability is now far more likely to appear on our screens in the form of presenters, actors or in advertisements. It is also more likely to be discussed openly in the workplace, or down the pub between friends. And consequently, the pace of change in just a few years has helped break down barriers that have held disabled people back for centuries. But in many ways, significant challenges remain. Challenges that go beyond on-screen diversity and communication. We now need to focus on…

How is feminism shaping design? It’s been promising to see creative practitioners abandon tired gendered design cues to redefine modern female identity. The ‘pinkification’ of feminism and women in design not only has the potential to be detrimental to the progression of women’s rights – it also alienates men who have a key role to play in the feminist movement. Particularly in the health and wellness sector, there has been a wave of brands adopting a bold design aesthetic in their branding that expresses women and women’s issues in a confident and a more authentic manner. Brands such as Thinx and Sustain Natural use honest language when communicating sexual health and feminine hygiene issues and don’t shy away from strong, colourful design. This approach helps de-stigmatise these topics and challenges…

1. PICK THE RIGHT CLIENTS If your potential client is good at what they do, the chances are they will be a good client, says Thomas Kronbichler. “And they know that there are other people who are very good at what they do, too. If that’s established, the collaboration will be a good one.” 2. CONTROL YOUR PROJECTS FROM START TO FINISH “Because we are a very small team, and all of us are designers, we can control projects from start to finish,” says Martin Kerschbaumer. “Most of our clients are medium-sized companies or cultural institutions, so we talk to the decisionmakers right away.” It might sound counter-intuitive, but this control is key to successful experimentation. “That’s how we can pull off experimental work,” explains Kerschbaumer. “We keep the head-count…

We’re constantly trying to answer – or at the very least explore – the question of what makes good design. And what with Bauhaus enjoying its 100th anniversary this year (more on that next issue), and seeing its perennial influence on design today, there are at least a handful of tenets that most of us can agree on. Not so with illustration. In fact, it’s sometimes hard enough to agree on what illustration is, let alone whether it’s good or not! Take Max Guther’s cover art. Did you think ‘illustration’ when you saw it? (I mean, once you had got past the really big, copper-foiled word ‘Illustrator’?!) In this issue we showcase 16 of our favourite illustrators working today, from all over the world, and they’re a mixed bunch of…

GARRICK WEBSTER FREELANCE WRITER Subtitled Scandinavian crime shows are mainly what Garrick watches on television. He’s so into them he gets confused when there’s no text on the screen, even though the characters are speaking English. ROSIE HILDER OPERATIONS EDITOR, CREATIVE BLOQ Rosie enjoyed interviewing the Italian design duo Studio Mut. She was hoping her Spanish knowledge would help her converse in Italian, but sadly the words ‘gelato’ and ‘ciao’ didn’t get her very far.…

RITAM GANDHI Director and founder, Studio Graphene www.studiographene.com Let’s face it – 2019 is, by all accounts, set to be a defining time for start-ups across the country. The ongoing political melodrama of Brexit has intensified over the past couple of months, and despite the official withdrawal date of 29 March, business leaders are still no clearer on how this political and economic transition will be managed. Should this be a cause for concern? While it does make it difficult for small companies to plan ahead for the future, it’s important not to overlook the UK’s established presence as a hub for innovation and entrepreneurship. The country is still Europe’s leading destination for global tech investment, with the tech industry here surpassing £180 billion in value as of June 2018.…

“WE’VE FOCUSED ON WHAT CAN WE DO WITH WOMEN TO MAKE THEIR WORK BETTER AND MAKE THEM MORE SUCCESSFUL IN THE WORKPLACE.”LAURA JORDAN BAMBACH CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER, MR PRESIDENT You only have to glance at a few statistics on gender in the UK design industry to know that all is not equal. While 70 per cent of design graduates are female, around 40 per cent of designers are women, and just 11 per cent make it to creative director level. Like most industries, there’s also a significant gender pay gap: research by SJD Accountancy shows women are paid upwards of 25 per cent less than their male counterparts. But what does this mean for design? How do these trends affect people working in the industry, what impact do they have…

SHE SAYS Award-winning organisation She Says runs events and mentoring for women in over 40 cities in the world. If SheSays isn’t in your city, get in touch with the organisers to find out about starting a chapter. www.weareshesays.com LADIES, WINE & DESIGN Ladies, Wine & Design (LW&D) was started by Jessica Walsh in New York after an encounter made her realise that women can be competitive and unsupportive towards each other. LW&D provides support and networking to women, and is now present in over 200 cities around the world. www.ladieswinedesign.com CREATIVE EQUALS Companies that want to champion diversity and inclusion can aim to get accredited with the Creative, Digital and Media Equality Standards – find out more via the website. Creative Equals also runs workshops and events in the…

Illustration is about so much more than pretty pictures or decorative imagery to augment editorial copy, packaging and brand campaigns. Throughout its history, illustration has been used to refract social and political issues – those around body image, gender and diversity, for instance – and subtly (or overtly, in some cases) show us that there’s no single way of viewing the world or the people in it. The nature of illustration, in that it’s used for commercial purposes and seen by more eyes than, say, fine art pieces hanging in a museum, means that it has huge power in its visibility. As this list shows, that’s something which a number of illustrators are increasingly taking advantage of in these strange and turbulent times. Such is the case in the work…

ISSUE 289 BUSINESS ■ Turn your business ideas into a success ■ Studio Dalton Maag reveals its type secrets ■ We conclude our roundup of the leading lights in the industry ISSUE 288 DISRUPTION Leading creatives reveal why you should disrupt your design approach, we talk to Victoria Bee on her larger-than-life projects, and hear from industry game changers. ISSUE 287 NEW TRENDS Celebrate the hottest design trends set to shape the industry, and learn the best route to self-publishing. Also, Kate Dawkins speaks to her work as a live experience designer. ISSUE 286 LOGO DESIGN Uncover the secrets to creating logos equipped for the modern age, and we discuss mental health issues in the design industry. Plus, Yuko Shimizu talks illustration. ISSUE 285 BEST UK STUDIOS We rank the…

HASHMUKH KERAI Motion designer and 3D artist Hashmukh Kerai has found time in his busy schedule to produce a guide for aspiring freelancers. More details on page 18. www.hashmukh.com LAURA JORDAN BAMBACH Mr President’s chief creative director Laura Jordan Bambach is one of the founders of creative network SheSays. Find out what impact it’s had on page 38. www.weareshesays.com MORAG MYERSCOUGH Wondering if a public space near you has been enhanced by Morag Myerscough? A wealth of colour and geometric shapes are the usual clues. See more on page 48. www.studiomyerscough.com EMILY GOSLING Freelance writer and regular Computer Arts contributor Emily Gosling jumped at the chance to talk to this year’s leading illustrators. The hotlist starts on page 56. www.emilygosling.com SAVANNA RAWSON There’s a critical imp on her shoulder of…

A changemaker has many names: early adopter, progressive consumer, influencer or even hipster. It is the powerful, consumer group that drives change. If a brand gains advocacy with this group then it won’t be long until the mass market follows. However, this group is also the hardest to understand. It evolves constantly and sometimes in no logical manner. It remixes its identities depending on mood, environment and even time of day. For this reason, the best way to define changemakers is by their attitudes and values. Understanding this is key to any brand wanting to engage with them. Our annual Changemaker Report, which we have been doing for two years, explores this growing consumer group. Based on robust data from eight countries and 1,800 individuals, it provides a moment to…

Brand Impact Awards 2019 ■ www.brandimpactawards.com Computer Arts’ very own design event returns to London once again this September, to announce the very best in branding from studios around the world. Call for entries is open now, and closes on 31 May, so there’s plenty of time for agencies to enter their work, and put themselves in with a chance of receiving an award. As ever, The Brand Impact Awards are judged in two distinct streams – Branding Programmes and Branded Campaigns – and according to sector, with 24 different categories including fashion, sport, entertainment, culture and not-for-profit. This means that the work will be judged within the category that it was designed for, alongside other pieces of that nature. OFFF Barcelona ■ www.offf.barcelona OFFF Barcelona runs from 25 to…

JENNIFER MOSS AND STEFANIE KEGEL Co-founders, The Geekettez www.thegeekettez.com “Running your own studio is both the best thing and toughest task ever, especially when it comes to finding the right balance between securing the projects and clients you want and getting your bills paid. But being able to make our own decisions and thus shape your own studio and client base outweighs any risks we might take. A few examples? We shape our communication and portfolio to attract clients and projects we enjoy working on. We evaluate our strategic direction at least once a year and update accordingly. We have the flexibility and freedom to do this because we decided we wanted to stay small. We do not have any employees, but instead work with our network of experts when…

ALEX EVANS, FLOWER UP “I support the #MeToo movement as someone who designs for anti-toxic masculinity, but I can’t say I’ve personally witnessed the direct physical utilisation of the #MeToo movement in the industry, although I know it happens. Any movement that helps create the concept of safe space or empowers people through the knowledge of support, whether directly or indirectly, will absolutely have an effect – big or small.” KATIE CADWALLADER, SUPPLE STUDIO “I suppose it’s brought the subject of gender equality to the forefront in our, and every industry. It will be interesting to see how those who have done their learning during this conversation approach situations. What will that awareness mean? Hopefully, it will keep us all on our toes, questioning and striving to be better. And…

LISTEN MORE “It’s important that everyone feels like they have a place at the table, not just women,” says She Says co-founder Laura Jordan Bambach, “so make sure that you are allowing other people to speak and have opinions.” And if you’re a confident person who can express themselves well? “Try and take people along with you and give them the opportunity to feel that way as well.” WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE “Make sure you use language that is inclusive,” continues Jordan Bambach. “There’s a lot of ‘banter’ in the industry which is not that welcoming or inclusive of women or anyone else who happens to be in a minority.” RECRUIT WITH GENDER IN MIND “Studios need to spend longer on the hunt for female creatives in the recruitment process to…

Being able to experiment in your client work is often as much about having the right conditions, and the right clients, as it is about creativity – something that the founders of Studio Mut know all too well. Thomas Kronbichler and Martin Kerschbaumer rely on a strict system of managed processes to create their vibrant and daring work. “We work like they taught us at our Bauhaus-inspired design schools: the designer is involved in the business part of the project, the creation and the production,” explains Kerschbaumer. But how does this work in practice? And does this system work with all clients, and all types of projects? Over to Studio Mut… What have been your highlights of the past year as a studio? Thomas Kronbichler: This year was superexciting. Martin…